Monday, November 28, 2016

Welcome Back Buddy!

It's that time of year again. When elves start showing up in houses near and far. Some elves give parents the hope that their kids will be on their best behavior, while others main objective is to entertain with the most creative mischief each night. This is our second Christmas doing the whole "elf on the shelf" thing and I think I may be even more excited than Noah is. Last year, we introduced Noah to the whole concept and helped Noah name him "Buddy". As I explained last year, we don't follow all the "elf rules". For example, our elf doesn't lose his magic if touched, and we don't mind if Noah touches Buddy. Noah is very gentle with him and quickly loses interest in playing with him if we let him touch Buddy when he finds him versus making a big deal about it. We also don't really use the elf as punishment for bad behavior. While we do like to remind Noah that he should be nice and listen to us because Buddy is watching and reporting back to Santa, our elf won't not come back or move one night because of bad behavior. Instead, we prefer to use Buddy as another fun way to countdown to Christmas. Buddy not only moves places each night, but he also has lots of fun while we are asleep. Chris has so much fun coming up with new and unique set ups each day. We just try to make sure that Buddy doesn't cause trouble or encourage mischievous behavior. Everything Buddy does is very harmless and a lot of fun.

To kick off the Christmas season, Buddy the Elf showed up yesterday morning with a little gift. In a world where kids don't have opinions, I had planned that Noah would spot Buddy, we would make the pancakes together, and then Noah would open his gift as we were eating breakfast. But once Noah saw that gift, he had no interest in helping until he unwrapped it. Since it was a minor change in plans, we let him open his present and then continued on with our plans.

This year we kept it pretty simple with some pancakes and simple toppings (strawberries, marshmallows, and m&ms). I wanted to make Christmas tree pancakes using these pancake molds, but they were a disaster! So instead, I stuck to what I know best, and made regular old pancakes, but made them a festive red and green. One thing I've learned since becoming a mom, it's best to just go with the flow!

While I take the lead when we decorate and entertain, Chris was very eager to take control with the ins and outs of Buddy. So I planned the breakfast, but will leave the rest of it to him. The elf shenanigans will begin this morning and I'm really excited to watch Noah find Buddy each morning. Last year I documented all of Buddy's innocent mischief and shared it here and on Instagram. I plan to do the same this year, and I'd love for you to follow along with my weekly recaps and on Instagram with the hashtag #buddytheelfshenanigans2016

Does the elf on the shelf come to your house??? Is he mischievous, playful, or just a spy for Santa?

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9 comments:

Welcome back Buddy!! I love your welcome breakfast! Ours is on Thursday and I can't wait. Cam has been asking about Bartholemew and when he comes. I love that Noah can touch Buddy. I need to implement that. Especially with a little one who wants to grab everything.

So fun! I have a post about North Pole breakfasts coming up later this week! We're the same. We don't really let the girls touch the elf but that is just because they watched the elf of the shelf show and they don't want to touch him :P. But were also not big into the rules either. I also will have our elf get into mischief and do silly things when I am feeling creative, but I will NOT make messes with him.

We do the Elf on the Shelf much like you guys and nix some rules! I cannot wait to start doing this. We decided it was best to start when I get back from Seattle. So Friday morning Max will make his presence. This looks like such a fun and perfect morning for you guys! I can't wait to see what kind of mischief Buddy and Max get into this year.